The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising of chief justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M Sonak has directed the government to stop the process of hearing on the new coastal management plan.

This was in response to a writ petition challenging the public hearing conducted by the North Goa collector Ajit Roy. The Bench headed by the chief justice Dipankar Datta declared “We are of the considered opinion that the allegation of the hearing being a mayor ritual, leveled by the petitioners, cannot be totally ruled out. In such view of the matter we restrain the government from proceeding further with the CZMP process.

It may be recalled that a large majority of the people who had come to hit their view on the changes to the coastal management plan will not be permitted within the Kala Academy and the Ravindra Bhavan where the hearings were held.